GDC 10

The music game faces a growing problem. Sales have gone down. Interest has waned. It’s no longer though cash cow that it once was. Part of the reason for the stagnation is that the genre hasn’t really evolved. It hit a peak with Rock Band and petered off, flatlining.

Other than DJ Hero, there hasn’t been anything particularly innovative. Gamers have been fiddling the same timed button pressing for years. If the music game is ailing, which it definitely is, then Seven45 Studios may have the cure with Power Gig.

And the most obvious reason that this game could change the genre is sitting right in front of me. The guitar controller is actually a real guitar. It’s three-quarters the size of a real one, and it has six strings. You have to strum and hold down frets to play notes. It has the heft of the real instrument.

I had a chance to play Super Street Fighter IV the other night, and I spent most of that time with these new Mad Catz sticks. Quick impressions: The form factor is definitely smaller and flatter with a huge face plate that covers up most of the stick. The bezel is gone, and that’s a good thing. The flatter appearance makes the buttons feel flatter themselves. I don’t knof these are custom or not but pressing on them still felt right. I could pull of all my moves well. Unfortunately, they don’t have the hadoken dust washer. It’s the same old dust washer that Mad Catz used in the previous sticks.

It’s a little over a year ago today that Black Rock Studio announced Split/Second. But the idea for the game is much older, going back six years when the developer was working on games for the original Xbox.

The problem was that they couldn’t get to it then, but they kept the idea for this high-concept racer on the shelf. Black Rock Studio waited, and when the technology was available and the right elements were in place, they began working on it in the background while they made Pure the off-road vertigo-inducing racing game. In all, the developer has spent three years making Split/Second.

“Action games were an inspiration,” studio ambassador Jay Green said, talking about his upcoming project. The game itself has a lot going on with cars wheeling around and drivers setting off explosions every three or four seconds. Helicopters carrying dump trucks drop them around the road. Ships fall into the harbor. Split/Second has a lot of eye candy and Green is proud of it. “The scale of explosives is as big as anything in an action game,” he said.

The last time I saw Guilty Party, I was unimpressed. Initially, it seemed like a minigame collection dressed up in the trenchcoat of the detective genre. All you had to do was play a few minigames and deduce the identity of the suspect based on clues and interviews. Back then, the cooperative mode made the game seem bland.

My opinions changed slightly after I was introduced to Guilty Party’s competitive play. The whole system works so much better when you’re competing against someone to solve a crime. Again, I picked my detective (They all function the same as avatars.) and Jon Krussell, senior producer at Wideload Games, chose his and we went off to solve a theft on the boat.

Civilization’s core gameplay hasn’t changed much. It’s just the periphery, the little extras that have evolved. If it were a building, it would be one that’s gone through countless renovation, but it’s foundation and structure remain sound. Producer Dennis Shirk gave a quick demo of Civilization 5, which is launching for the PC in the fall.

1. The game is shifting from square tiles to hexagonal ones. This changes unit movement. Players can now go northwest and southeast instead of the four cardinal directions. The new tiles also create continents and islands that look more organic and real as evidenced by the nice screenshot above. The new land styles will also include other formations in different styles. For mod, fans there is also a stand-alone world builder.

2. The UI is more simplified. Firxaxis hid a lot of the extra commands of the heads-up display, giving players a cleaner look. Less clutter is always a plus. On top of that, icons in the bottom right corner will advice or remind players of things to do next. They’ll tell you if need to produce something in city and such.

3. There will be an in-game browser that will help fans search for new mods. This is a nod to the strong Civ community who have created plenty of interesting maps and changes. In the browser, players can search and rate mods that the community has made. The new game brings the community more to the forefront.

4. There’s a new emphasis on world leaders. They speak in their own language, and players will see them in a setting that’s unique to them. Napolean will be on a battlefield; Gandhi is going to be out by the sea. Meanwhile, the AI will constantly be working in the background working toward one of the major Civ goals such cultural victory, space race victory or diplomatic victory. You can also enter research agreements with other countries so that the two can achieve goals faster. Just remember, if there’s war, then a lot research will have gone to waste.

5. City-States! These new additions are supposed to grease the wheels of diplomacy. They don’t get as large as a country, but they do act as nation NPCs. Players can invest in them early on by helping with barbarians or giving them financial aid. In return, they may pump out a unit or two every so often or share research.

6. Lastly, the biggest change is tactical combat. This time around, it’s one unit per tile. In addition, ranged combat works differently now. Players now have to move archers to hills or hide them behind a front line. Bowman and similar units can soften the front line so that spearmen and warriors can break through and destroy an enemy line. In addition, combat itself is more realistic. It doesn’t always end with a unit dying. And because of the 1 unit per tile rule, cities have to defend themselves, making forts even more vital near large population centers.

The smaller number of units means that everyone is valuable, and players will have to outmaneuver rivals and use the terrain to win.

If you have questions, I’ll be out there getting answers. I have a busy schedule this week as GDC goes from Tuesday to Saturday this year. Weird. It usually runs the workweek. Nevertheless, I have tons of appointments and previews lined up. If you want to keep up with what’s going, check out me out on Twitter or you could just check out what I’m doing below. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. I’ll answer anything I can.